So, this could win the award for the latest and most irrelevant blog post. Especially as I am sat typing this whilst looking out of the window at a foggy and rainy landscape. Much different to the landscape that was out of the window when I took these photos. Long gone are the those days when I needed to apply the suntan lotion, but when I did in Egypt it was factor 50 all the way, especially on the beach where I spent most of the day snorkelling. Talking snorkelling (no points for that link there!) I made sure that every time we took off down the hill to the beach these were in my possession. I loved being in the water with the fish so much that I am considering investing in a decent kit. Another essential when in Egypt are beach shoes, these we picked up whilst out there and they were really cheap. These pretty much saved my trotters because the sand is mainly broken rocks or boiling hot. Also - never forget the bug spray. Ever. When I wasn't in the sea I was relaxing as per usual with Harry Potter on my kindle.Twitter | Facebook | Youtube| Blog Lovin | Instagram

A few weeks ago I went along to the LUSH store in Cardiff to have a peak at all the Christmas (yes it's soon!) stock is now available in stores. I met up with a few of the girls in Starbucks before hand, then headed up a cold Queen Street and huddled into the store. As usual when you walk into LUSH you are met with a wall of colour and smells that instantly lift you. The staff are so friendly and upbeat that it's really hard to keep the "grr I'm so tired I've been in work all day" mood - which is very hard for me to shift. To be completely honest with you, a lot of the smells in LUSH just give me headaches. I've never really loved the warm smells, you know the cinnamon Christmassy ones. But since we were given a couple of Christmas bath goodies in our bags I think I will brave it and give them a go! Who knows it may change.My favourite things from LUSH are the minty smells and the Comforter so I picked another one of those up. I always pick one up when I go into LUSH, a habit I can't see myself ever breaking. I think everyone knows how many bubbles the Comforter creates! Currently I'm having a bit of a bad skin time, which is nothing compared to the average, I know. But I am experiencing spots popping up on my chin and I don't like it. I was advised Mask of Magnamity would sort me out so in LUSH I trusted and I bought a pot home with me. Finally, I bought a pot of the H'suan Wen Hua hair treatment on Laura from CSI's advice. As most of you know by now, I have dark hair. It wasn't a choice I had as there was a horrific balls up by the salon which had to be covered by dark brown. Anyway, it left my hair in a state of shock and it's in a really bad way at the moment. Laura said even though this treatment smells of damp clothes (she was right!) it would sort my hair right out. Here's hoping!Have you popped into LUSH recently?What's the one item you can't wait to see back in store at this time of year? (I don't like Snow Fairy!!!)Twitter | Facebook | Youtube| Blog Lovin | Instagram

As a spa treatment, hair salon and nail bar lover when I was emailed about the Fabyouless card I read with wide eyes. A card where you can save money (such as 2 for 1 deals) on these things?! I usually always trawl through the likes of groupon and living social to find a deal but with that you run the risk of either having a trainer cut your hair (nothing wrong with that!) or somewhere that doesn't have the greatest reviews. The card covers places such as beauty salons hair salons, nail bars, lash bars, clinics, spas, dental clinics and even gyms! One of the places you can use the Fabyouless card is Bannatynes - a spa that is right by me and I visit a few times a year. I think it's a brilliant idea, a bit like a taste card but for beauty. What more could you want? Well... keep scrolling for your chance to win one.a Rafflecopter giveawayTwitter | Facebook | Youtube| Blog Lovin | Instagram

Last Monday I took the day off work, because let's be honest - who likes Mondays? Not me, that's for sure. Now I've known Michelle for years and have had my nails done by her for the last 5 years - so that should say she is awesome in itself, however this time I went with something different - sculptures.

Now as the song says, first things first. My nails were the worst they have been in years and I am absolutley blaming this on being at the dogs home on the weekend ;)... I jest, but still I haven't been the most careful recently. I always had big plans to keep having shellac until they grew enough but this just never happened. I then saw Michelle (aka Shelley) talk of this method of building up the nail tip instead of gluing tips on your nails. I booked in sharpish as I have craved that pointed nail for far too long!

After my nails were buffed and filed I had these silver stickers placed under my nails. These formed the base for which the gels were built up on. No tips required and all free hand. I was pretty amazed at the results if I'm honest. The nail shape was exactly what I wanted and like I said Michelle did all this free hand - in love!

I love how these nails look without any polish. So natural!

For polish, as always, I wanted to go for something fun but still non-tacky so Michelle brilliantly look inspiration from my tartan scarf. I've just spent the day at the dogs home and my nails look like they have just been done, I am amazed. I'll keep you updated with how they grow out and how long they look in tip top condition.

Have a look at the Storm Hair and Nails website, if you are in the Cardiff area I couldn't recommend a better place.

Again I have to write that things have been a little quiet around here these days. But not something I am going to apologise for because I have been having the best time filling my weekends with dogs.

It's been both happy, sad, exciting, tiring, emotional and heartbreaking... plus every other emotion that I could ever come across. This weekend was well and truly a mixture of them all, mentally it has been exhausting.

Yesterday myself and a few other volunteers decided to get our clean on and clean the sensory garden for the dogs. It was an epic task as there was just so many leaves everywhere, plus it's muddy in parts! We swept. dug a new sandpit, weeded and washed until it was looking pretty decent. An amazing team effort than gave me some aching muscles today.

On to today, it's been a heartbreaking day for good and bad reasons. The best reason is Sadie, the dog in the second photo, is trotting of to a rescue space tomorrow. Sadie is a little complex madam who has her funny little ways. She only trusts a handful of walkers and is fearful of a lot of things. However, me she trusted. I met her in her way (at her level) weeks ago and since then I always want to walk her and spend time with her. I've written a lot on her board (click here) and enjoyed every minute. I took Sadie for a little goodbye walk at the very end of today and for the first time actually look her back into her bed. Sadie isn't usually a fussy dog, she lets you smooth her but all she really wants is you to throw balls. However, I got in her kennel and that was it, she rolled over for belly rubs, held onto me, cuddled in and made a fuss of me! It was a whole new experience with her and something that broke my heart, I cried. Upset because I would miss her but also because she was finally in a place that she felt safe enough to fuss me - this was a metal kennel. On a happier note this rescue space will be for the best as she's been in the kennels since April. She's amazing and if any reader wanted to adopt her, she would be awesome - just learn her way of doing things.

I'm saddened to say however that my heart broke for many other reasons. A dog was handed over and the reason actually was because they took rubbish out of a binbag on the kitchen floor. I have no more words on that one. Another dog was so exhausted, pictured below, after being out on the streets for so long that she just collapsed into the deepest sleep in the office. It was adorable but also heartbreaking at the same time, she just looked so relieved to be somewhere warm. Her claws were sore and worn down, luckily she is in a place that will care for her. She is also adorable, cwtchy and just generally awesome.

Mitch is the dog in the first photo, this was taking when getting his photos done for the forum. He was so scared that at first he just stood there and shook. With a little love from us he eventually took food from our hands and enjoyed a lovely back rub from me. Hopefully he won't be waiting too long for a home, but it's so sad to see them so scared - the volunteers do more than just dog walk.

Final point from today is an incident that we are all furious over. A dog was thrown from a van at the end of the lane that Cardiff dogs home is located. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? For one, we were furious, for reasons that I can't go into but lets just say the dog is an ex poundie. However, the positive spin is that as soon as we were made aware that there was a dog dumped no fewer than ten volunteers and the three members of staff came running (and I mean we were all legging it down the lane) to bring this little one back to safety. It was a pretty awesome sight to behold, a dog that had just been dumped surrounded by people walking in with her. I'm proud to say that is the people who I spend my weekends with, it was an awesome display of what we all stand for.

My youtube channel has also been taken over with dog videos, but d'ya know what. I love it.

The swimming pool is one of my favourite places to be on holiday, second only to the sea. I love being in the water, around the water and on the water. I think I was a mermaid in a previous life. Naturally you pack a few essentials and these are the things that never left my pool bag...

Clothes

A bit of a weird one to start with as most of the time I was just in my bikini soaking up the rays but there are times when you need to pop back to the room, to go and get some food or when you just want to cover up. I picked this lace throw very last minute before my holiday from Tesco and it was in the sale for £10. I wore this quite a bit on holiday and as it's so long I got away with wearing it in the food places too.

My hat was another Tesco bargain, for £3 this was something that I wore everyday and because it was so big it also protected my neck and shoulders from the sun!

The final item of clothing for me was a decent pair of flip flips, I took along these from Ipanema* ad they are the most comfortable flip flips I own. Previous ones range from a £2 pair from Sainsburys to Havianas but as these have a base that is shaped to a foot they are so comfortable. I really needed them by the pool because the ground got so hot you couldn't walk bare foot anywhere!

Cosmetics

Naturally the first thing to pack when you are outside on holiday is your SPF. We took nothing less that factor 20 with us and I would say most of the first week we stuck to factor 50. We took a variety of spray and lotion with us and there are good and bad points to both. The spray, whilst convenient, seem to last all of two seconds. The bottles said they would do 6 full body applications and I usually would be really annoyed at the lack of product but they were reduced to £2 each in Wilkos.

I also took along carrot oil with me, a product which if used correctly (with an SPF) gives such a nice tan! A little lip balm too and I was set for the day.

The rest

I think my kindle was permanently attached to me on this holiday. I loved getting pulled back into the wonderful world of Harry Potter again and read at a super speed. We took a few "game" things to play with Leanne and Tom so some balls that float on the water and bat and balls. The bats pretty much disintegrated in the water ://.

When packing for Egypt the one thing that I needed to make sure that I did was pack a decent shampoo and conditioner. In Mexico last year my hair went so dry that brushing it was painful and would snap off more hair than normal. That was when my hair was ombred so I knew it would be worse this year as my hair at the time of my holiday was all bleach. Coupled with the fact that Egypt would be a higher concentration of sun, I was prepared for a nightmare.

Loreal EveryPure Colour Care Shampoo & Conditioner

I picked these up when they were on offer in Tescos on a random shopping trip I had after work one day. I'd heard a lot about "no sulphates" shampoo and conditioners and how they are supposed to be better for your hair and like most things I read about on blogs, I was intrigued. I have to say they did do a great job at keeping my hair soft on holiday, especially as everyday I was in the sea and swimming pool.

Sainsburys Mint Shower Gel

Mint shower gels are one of my most favourite things to use in the shower. I'm pretty obsessed with mint flavoured everything. This may sound a little strange but I find mint shower gels really refreshing when your skin feel all cloggy up with chlorine and sea salt on holiday. However, the downside of this is if your skin does get a little sun burnt then it can really sting!

Nivea After Sun Shower Cream

That brings me on to my next item, an after sun that you use in the shower?! Something I had never heard of before but we picked it up and packed it in our suitcase, hoping for the best! I would like to say here and now that this stuff makes the shower super slippery and it's pretty dangerous - I nearly stacked it a few times. As a product it was a little weird to use. Once I'd washed my hair I would brush through with my tangle teaser and clip it out of the way. Turning off the shower I then put this all over and rinsed off. My skin felt soft but I still felt the need to really moisturise afterwards. I wouldn't bother with this again.

I had a bit of a nightmare in duty free this year, I had planned to not spend anything at all, be good

and save my pennies. However once I'd got to the airport I was a little nervous and needed something to keep my mind of the impending flight. The only thing I could partake in, was shopping.

Leanne had a predetermined shopping list which started with MAC so we headed there. For some unknown reason I decided to try and find a nude liptick - I have no idea why as I usually just wear bright lipsticks. After trying a few I had settled on one, couldn't tell you what the name of it was but they didn't have it in stock so I couldn't buy it. This scenario continued for every single item I picked up. Three lipsticks and a foundation, needless to say I left MAC empty handed.

I was pretty gutted, it's always nice to pick up a couple of new things and it was only when I got to The Body Shop that I picked up some bits. Leanne had heard about the Aqua Boost Sorbet so we got stuck in testing it on the backs of our hands, decided it felt great and promptly bought one.

Whilst in The Body Shop I saw the moisture serum which Leanne had said is very similar to the less than budget friendly Caudile version. I think this was about £10, they had various discounts there too. So far so good, I really like using this and have noticed a good difference in the condition of my skin. This serum was also really nice to use whilst on holiday on my slightly sunburnt face - oops.

The final purchase in duty free, apart from snacks for the plane, was the eye cream. I have bought a few over the past year and not like any of them. Most of the ones I have used already make my eyes water and I then just give up on them. Already knowing how gentle the Vitamin E range from The Body Shop I decided to pop this in the basket. Again, so far so good. I can't say I've noticed a huge difference but I think in your early twenties its more about preventing the deterioration of the skin around your eyes.